Quincy football plays early scrimmage

Quincy High quarterback Matt Beeson fakes a handoff to Tyler Lacey during Quincy’s scrimmage against Enterprise last Thursday. Quincy’s team is the only team in the county to scrimmage this early in the season. Photo by James Wilson

James Wilson

Sports Reporter

6/27/2013

The Quincy High School football team wasted no time in getting ready for the upcoming season, as it held its first scrimmage June 20 on the Feather River College football field. The Antelope and Enterprise teams came up to participate in Quincy’s last day of early football camp.

Quincy’s coaches were allowed to work with their future team between Monday and Thursday of last week. Due to California Interscholastic Federation regulations, they won’t be able to practice with the football team again until the end of summer: Aug. 19.

“I thought the scrimmage went really well,” commented Quincy’s head coach, Tom Goss. “We still have a lot of work to do at the end of summer, though. We can still build ourselves up a lot stronger.”

Last year’s team was dominated by juniors. Of the 31 on the roster, only eight were seniors. This year, on the other hand, the team consists of the same juniors from last year who are now bigger, faster and stronger. Goss went on to describe the team’s development from last year.

“It’s great to see how these kids’ physical and emotional maturity has developed. It amazed me how much stronger our defense is going to be this year.”

Goss used the scrimmage to not only get his team in shape, but show them what kind of tough competition is out there. Enterprise, out of Redding, is a Division I school in the Northern Section CIF. Antelope is a Division II school in the Sac-Joaquin Section CIF. Quincy, a far smaller school than the other two, is Division IV in the Northern Section CIF.

Quincy High alumnus Matt Ray is the head coach of Antelope, and decided to bring his players up to Quincy to give them a fresh perspective along with some fresh air.

“I love taking my team up here every year,” said Ray. “It gives them a chance to see the mountains and how we live up here.”

The Quincy High football players are now on a break from training, though some will continue training on their own. The team will resume two-a-day practices with the coaches Aug. 19.